repeat the oath I made yesterday, that neither you nor your nephew shall
have any cause to be offended at me. I see plainly, added she, you are
not yet well enough acquainted with me: you never saw me yet but through
a veil; but as I find your nephew worthy of my friendship, I will show
you I am not any wise unworthy of his. With that she threw off her veil,
and discovered to king Beder, who came near her with Abdallah, an
incomparable face: but king Beder was little charmed. It is not enough,
said he within himself, to be beautiful; one’s actions ought to
correspond in regularity with one’s features.
While king Beder was making these reflections, with his eyes fixed on
queen Labe, the old man turned towards him, and, taking him by the arm,
presented him to her majesty, saying, Here he is, madam; and I beg of
your majesty once more to remember he is my nephew, and to let him come
and see me sometimes. The queen promised he should; and, to give a
farther assurance of her acknowledgment, she caused a bag of a thousand
pieces of gold to be given him. He excused himself at first from
receiving them; but she insisted absolutely upon it, and he could not
refuse her. She had caused a horse to be brought, as richly harnessed and
set out as her own, for the king of Persia. While he was mounting him, I
forgot, said the queen to Abdallah, to ask you your nephew’s name; pray
how is he called? He answered, his name was Beder, (The Full Moon); and
her majesty replied, Sure his ancestors were mistaken; they ought to have
given him the name of Shems, (The Sun).
When king Beder was mounted, he would have taken his post behind the
queen; but she would not suffer him, and made him to ride on her left
hand. She looked upon Abdallah; and, after having made him an inclination
with her head, she set forward on her march.
Instead of observing a satisfaction in the people’s faces at the sight of
their sovereign, king Beder took notice that they rather despised and
cursed her. The sorceress, said some, has got a new subject to exercise
her wickedness upon: will Heaven never deliver the world from her
tyranny? Poor stranger, cried out others, thou art much deceived if thou
thinkest thy happiness will last long: it is to render thy fall more
terrible, that she has raised thee so high. This talk gave king Beder to
understand Abdallah had told him nothing but the truth of queen Labe; but
as he no longer depended on him, he had recourse to divine Providence to
free him from the danger he was got into.
The magic queen arrived at her palace, whither she was no sooner come,
than she alighted, and, giving her hand to king Beder, entered with him,
accompanied by her women and the officers of her eunuchs. She herself
showed him all her apartments, where there was nothing to be seen but
massy gold, precious stones, and furniture of wonderful magnificence.
When she had carried him into her closet, she led him out into a balcony,
from whence he observed a garden of surprising beauty. King Beder
commended all he saw, with a great deal of wit, but nevertheless in such
a manner that he might not be discovered to be any other than old
Abdallah’s nephew. They discoursed of divers indifferent matters, till
such time as news was brought the queen that dinner was upon the table.
The queen and king Beder arose, and went to place themselves at table,
which was of pure massy gold, and the plates of the same. They began to
eat, but did not drink till almost the dessert came, when the queen
caused a cup to be filled with excellent wine: she took it, and drank to
king Beder’s health; and then causing it to be filled again, presented it
to him. King Beder received it with profound respect, and, by a very low
bow, signified to her majesty that he likewise drank to her health.
Soon after, ten of queen Labe’s women entered with musical instruments,
with which, accompanied with their voices, they made an agreeable concert
during the whole drinking, which continued till late at night. At length
they began to be so heated with wine, that king Beder insensibly forgot
he had to do with a magic queen, and looked upon her only as the finest
woman he ever saw. As soon as the queen perceived she had wrought him to
the pitch she desired, she made a sign to her eunuchs and women to
retire. They obeyed; and king Beder and she went and lay together all
night.
Next morning the queen and king Beder went to the bagnio; and as soon as
they came out, the women who had served the king there, presented him
with fine linen and a magnificent habit. The queen likewise, who was more
splendidly dressed than the day before, came to receive him, and they
went together to her apartment, where they had a good repast brought
before them, and spent the remainder of the day in walking and other
amusements.
Queen Labe treated king Beder after this manner for forty days, as she
had been accustomed to do all her lovers. The fortieth night, as they
were lying together, she, believing he was really asleep, arose without
making any noise; but he was awake, and perceiving she had some design
upon him, watched all her motions. Being up, she opened a chest, from
whence she took a little box, full of a certain yellow powder. Taking
some of the powder, she laid a train of it across the chamber, and
immediately flowed in a rivulet of water, to the great astonishment of
king Beder. He trembled with fear, but still pretended to sleep, that he
might not discover to the sorceress he was awake.
Queen Labe next took up some of the water in a pot, and poured it into a
basin where there was flour, with which she made paste, and kneaded it
for a long time: then she mixed certain drugs with it, which she took
from different boxes, and made a cake, and put it into a covered
baking-pan. As she had taken care at first to make a good fire, she took
some of the coals, and set the pan upon them; and as the cake was baking,
she put up her pot and boxes again; and at the pronouncing of certain
words, dismissed the rivulet, which appeared no more. When the cake was
baked, she took it off the coals, and carried it into her closet, and
afterwards returned to bed again to king Beder, who dissembled the matter
so well with her, that she had not the least suspicion that he knew any
thing of what she had done.
King Beder, whom the pleasures and delights of a court had made to forget
his good host Abdallah, began now to think of him again, and believed he
had more than ordinary occasion for his advice at this juncture, since he
saw all the queen had done that night. As soon as he was up, therefore,
he expressed a great desire to go and see his uncle, and begged of her
majesty to permit him. Alas! my dear Beder, cried the queen, are you then
already tired, I will not say with the pleasures of so superfine a palace
as mine is, but with the company of a queen who loves you so passionately
as I do?
Great queen, answered king Beder, how can I be tired with so many favours
and graces as your majesty perpetually heaps upon me? Very far from that,
I desire this permission, madam, purely to go and give my uncle an
account of the mighty obligations I have to your majesty. I must own
likewise it is partly in this respect, that my uncle loving me so
tenderly, as it is very well known he does, and I having been from him
now forty days, without so much as once seeing him, he will surely take
it very unkindly if I cannot afford him one visit. Go, said the queen, I
consent to it; but you will not be long before you return, if you
consider I cannot possibly live without you. This said, she ordered him a
fine horse richly caparisoned, and so he departed.
Old Abdallah was overjoyed to see his dear adopted son again; insomuch
that, without regard to his quality, he embraced him heartily, and king
Beder returned the like, that nobody might doubt but that he was his
nephew. As soon as they were sat down, Well, said Abdallah to the king,
how do you do, sir? and how have you passed your time with that infidel
sorceress?
Hitherto, answered king Beder, I must needs own she has been
extraordinary kind to me, and has done all she could to persuade me that
she loves me entirely; but I observed something last night, which gives
me just reason to suspect that all her kindness hitherto is but
dissimulation. Whilst she thought me asleep, although I was really awake,
she stole from me with a great deal of precaution, which made me suspect
her intention, and therefore I resolved to watch her. Going on with his
discourse, he related to Abdallah how, and after what manner, he had seen
her make the cake; and then added, Hitherto, said he, I must needs
confess I had almost forgot, not only you, but all the advice you gave me
concerning the wickedness of this queen: but this last action of hers
gives me reason to fear she neither intends to observe any of her oaths
nor promises. I thought of you immediately, and esteem myself happy in
that I have obtained permission to come to you.
You are not deceived in this wicked queen, replied old Abdallah with a
smile, to show he did not himself believe she would observe one word she
spoke, nor oath she made; nothing is capable of obliging a perfidious
woman to mend her morals. But fear nothing; I have a way to make the
mischief she intends you fall upon herself. You are become jealous in
time; and you could not have done better than this, to have recourse to
me. It is her ordinary practice to keep her lovers only forty days; and
after that time, instead of sending them home, to turn them into animals
to stock her forests and parks; but I thought of measures yesterday to
prevent her doing any harm. The earth has borne this monster long enough,
and it is now high time she should be served as she deserves.
So saying, Abdallah put two cakes into king Beder’s hands, bidding him
keep them to make use of as he should direct. You told me, continued he,
the sorceress made a cake last night: it was for you to eat of, depend
upon it, but take great care you do not touch it. Nevertheless, do not
refuse to receive it when she offers it you; but, instead of tasting it,
break off part of one of the two that I gave you, unobserved, and eat
that. As soon as she thinks you have swallowed it, she will not fail to
attempt transforming you into some animal, but she shall not succeed;
which when she sees, she will immediately turn the thing to pleasantry,
as if what she had done was only to frighten you; but she will conceal a
mortal aversion in her heart, and think her having failed proceeded only
from the want of something in the composition of her cake. As for the
cake she made, and which she will not know to be her own, you shall make
a present of it to her, and press her to eat it; which she will not
refuse to do, if it were only to convince you she does not mistrust you,
though she has given you so much reason to mistrust her. When she has
quite eaten it, take a little water in the hollow of your hand, and,
throwing it in her face, say, Quit that form you now wear, and take that
of such or such an animal, as you shall think fit; which done, come to me
with the animal, and I will tell you what you shall do afterwards.
King Beder made all possible acknowledgments to old Abdallah, for the
great obligations he had to him, for defending him from the wiles of a
pestilent sorceress who sought to ruin him; and after some little
discourse, he took his leave of him and returned to the palace. Upon his
arrival, he understood that the queen waited for him with great
impatience in the garden. He went to pay his respects to her, and she no
sooner perceived him, than she came in great haste to meet him. My dear
Beder! said she, it is said, with a great deal of reason, that nothing
moves more the force and excess of love than absence from the object
beloved. I have had no quiet since I saw you, and the minutes I have been
separated from you have seemed so many ages; nay, if you had staid ever
so little longer, I was preparing to come and fetch you once more to my
arms.
Madam, replied king Beder, I can assure your majesty that I have not been
under less disquiets on your account; but I could not refuse to stay a
little longer than ordinary with an uncle who loves me so dearly, and had
not seen me for so long a while. He would have kept me still longer, but
I tore myself away from him to come and pay my vows where they are so
much due. Of all the collations he prepared for me, I have only brought
away this cake, which I desire your majesty to accept. King Beder had
wrapped up one of the two cakes in a handkerchief very neatly, took it
out, and presented it to the queen, saying, I beg your majesty to accept
of it, though it be so inconsiderable a present.
I do accept of it with all my heart, replied the queen, receiving it, and
will eat it cheerfully for yours and your good uncle’s sake: but before I
taste of it, I desire you will eat a piece of mine, which I have made for
you during your absence. Fair queen, answered king Beder, receiving it
with great respect, such hands as your majesty’s can never make any thing
but what is excellent; and the favour hereby done me will exact an
eternal acknowledgment.
King Beder then substituted, in the place of the queen’s cake, the other
which old Abdallah had given him, and having broken off a piece, he put
it to his mouth, and cried, while he was eating, Ah! queen, I never
tasted any thing so charming in my life. They being near a cascade, the
sorceress seeing him swallow one bit of the cake, and ready to eat
another, she took a little water in the palm of her hand, and throwing it
on the king’s face, said, Wretch! quit that form of a man thou bearest,
and take that of a vile horse, lame and blind.
These words not having the desired effect, the sorceress was strangely
surprised to find king Beder still in the same form, and that he only
started, being a little frightened. Blushes came suddenly into her
cheeks; and as she saw that she had missed her aim, Dear Beder, cries
she, this is nothing, recover thyself; I did not intend thee any harm;
what I did, was only to see what thou wouldst say. I should be the most
miserable and execrable of women, should I attempt aught against thy
tranquillity; I do not only say, after all the oaths I made to the
contrary, but even after so many testimonies of love as I have given
thee.
Puissant queen, replied king Beder, however well satisfied I were, that
what your majesty did was only to divert yourself, yet I could not help
being a little frightened with the surprise. Also, what could hinder me
from being a little moved at the pronouncing of such terrible words, as
are capable of making so strange a transformation? But, madam, continued
he, let us set aside this discourse; and since I have ate of your cake, I
desire you would do me the like favour by tasting of mine.
Queen Labe, who could no better justify herself than by putting this
confidence in the king of Persia, broke off a piece of his cake and ate
it; which she had no sooner done, than she appeared much troubled, and
remained, as it were, motionless. King Beder, seeing his time, took water
out of the same basin she had done, and, throwing it in her face, cried,
Abominable sorceress! quit that form of a woman, and be turned instantly
into a mare.
The same instant queen Labe was transformed into a very beautiful mare;
and she was so concerned to find herself in that condition, that she shed
tears in great abundance, which perhaps no mare before had been ever
known to do. She bowed her head with great obeisance to king Beder,
thinking to move him to compassion; but, though he could have been so
moved, it was absolutely out of his power to repair the damage he had
done her. He led her then into the stable belonging to the palace, and
put her into the hands of a groom, to bridle and saddle; but of all the
bridles he tried upon her, not one would fit her. This made him cause two
horses to be saddled, one for the groom and the other for himself; and
the groom led the mare after him to old Abdallah’s.
Abdallah, seeing king Beder coming with the mare at a distance, doubted
not but he had done what he advised him. Cursed sorceress! said he
immediately to himself very joyfully. Heaven has at length punished thee
as thou deservest. King Beder alighted at Abdallah’s door, and entered
with him into the shop embracing and thanking him for all the signal
services he had done him. He related to him the whole matter, with all
its circumstances; and moreover told him, he could find no bridle fit for
the mare. Abdallah found one that fitted exactly; and as soon as king
Beder had sent back the groom, he said to him, My lord, you have no
reason to stay any longer in this city; take the mare, mount her, and
return to your kingdom. I have but one thing more to recommend to you;
and that is, if ever you should happen to part with the mare, be sure to
deliver her bridle. King Beder promised to observe all his commands, and
this especially; and so, having taken leave of the good old man, he
departed.
The young king of Persia no sooner got out of the city, than he began to
reflect on the deliverance he had had, and to rejoice he had the
sorceress in his power, who had given him so much cause to tremble. Three
days after, he arrived at a great city, where, entering the suburbs, he
met a venerable old man, walking on foot towards a pleasure-house he had
hard by: Sir, said the old man to him, stopping, may I presume to ask
from what part of the world you come? The king stopped to satisfy him;
and, as they were discoursing together, an old woman chanced to come by,
who, stopping likewise, wept and sighed bitterly at the sight of the
mare.
King Beder and the old man left off discoursing, to look on the old
woman, whom the king asked, whom she had to lament so much. Alas! sir,
replied she, It is because your mare resembles so perfectly one my son
had, and which I still mourn the loss of on this account, and should
think yours were the same, did I not know she was dead. Sell her to me,
sir, I beseech you, and I will give you even more than she is worth, for
the sake of the person that once owned her likeness.
Good woman, replied king Beder, I am heartily sorry I cannot comply with
your request; my mare is not to be sold. Alas! sir, continued the old
woman, do not refuse me this favour, for the love of God. I conjure you
to do it out of pure charity, since my son and I shall certainly die with
grief if you do not grant it. Good mother, replied the king, I would
grant it with all my heart, if I was disposed to part with so good a
beast; but if I were so disposed, I believe you would hardly give a
thousand pieces of gold for her, which is the lowest price I shall ever
put upon her. Why should I not give so much? replied the old woman: if
that be the lowest price, you need only say you will take it, and I will
fetch you the money.
King Beder, seeing the old woman so poorly dressed, could not imagine she
could find the money; therefore, to try her, he said, not thinking to
part with his mare for all that, Go fetch me the money, and the mare is
yours. The old woman immediately unloosed a purse she had fastened to her
girdle, and desiring him to alight, bade him tell over the money: and, in
case he found it came short of the sum demanded, her house was not far
off, and she could quickly fetch the rest.
The surprise king Beder was in at the sight of this purse was not small.
Good woman, said he, do you not perceive I have bantered you all this
while? I will assure you my mare is not to be sold.
The old man, who had been witness to all that was said, now began to
speak: Son, quoth he to king Beder, it is necessary you should know one
thing, which I find you are ignorant of; and that is, that in this city
it is not permitted any one to lie, on any account whatsoever, and that
on pain of death: now, you having made this bargain with this old woman,
you must not refuse her money, and delivering your mare according to the
agreement; and this you had better do without any noise, than expose
yourself to what may ensue.
King Beder, sorely afflicted to find himself thus trapped by his rash
proffer, was nevertheless forced to alight and perform his agreement. The
old woman stood ready to seize the bridle; which when she had done, she
immediately unbridled the mare, and taking some water in her hand from a
spring that ran in the middle of the street, she threw it in the mare’s
face, uttering these words: Daughter, quit that bestial form, and
reassume thy own. The transformation was effected in a moment; and king
Beder, who swooned as soon as he saw queen Labe appear, would have fallen
to the ground, if the old man had not hindered him.
The old woman, who was mother to queen Labe, and who had instructed her
in all her magic, had no sooner embraced her daughter, than in an
instant, she, by whistling, caused a genie to rise, of a gigantic form
and stature: this genie immediately took king Beder on one shoulder, and
the old woman with the magic queen on the other, and transported them in
a few minutes to the palace of queen Labe, in the city of enchantments.
The magic queen immediately fell upon king Beder, reproaching him
grievously, in the following manner: Is it thus, ungrateful wretch, that
thy unworthy uncle and thou make me amends for all the kindnesses I have
done for you? I shall soon be able to make you both feel what you so well
deserve. She said no more, but, taking water in her hand, threw it in his
face, with these words, Come out of that form, and take that of a vile
owl. These words were soon followed by the effect; and immediately she
commanded one of her women to shut up the owl in a cage, and give him
neither meat nor drink.
The woman took the cage, and, without regarding what the queen ordered,
gave him both meat and drink; and being old Abdallah’s friend, she sent
him word privately how the queen had treated his nephew, and what design
she had taken to destroy him and king Beder, in case he did not take
timely measures to prevent it.
Abdallah knew no common measures would do with queen Labe; he therefore
did but whistle after a certain manner, and there immediately rose a vast
giant, with four wings, who presented himself before him, and asked what
he would have with him. Lightning, said Abdallah to him, (for so was the
genie’s name,) I command you to preserve the life of king Beder, son of
the queen Gulnare. Go to the palace of the magic queen, and transport
immediately to the capital of Persia the compassionate woman who has the
cage in custody, that she may inform queen Gulnare of the danger the king
her son is in, and the occasion he has of her assistance. Take care not
to fright her when you come before her, and acquaint her from me what she
ought to do.
Lightning immediately disappeared, and got in an instant to the palace of
the magic queen. He instructed the woman, lifted her up into the air, and
transported her to the capital of Persia, where he placed her on the
terrace of the apartment where queen Gulnare was. She went down stairs to
the apartment, and she there found queen Gulnare and queen Farasche,
lamenting their mutual misfortunes. She made them a profound reverence,
and, by the relation she gave them, they soon came to understand the
great necessity king Beder was in of their assistance.
Queen Gulnare was so overjoyed at the news, that, rising from her seat,
she went and embraced the good woman, telling her how much she was
obliged to her for the service she had done her.
Then going immediately out, she commanded the trumpets to sound and the
drums to beat, to acquaint the city, that the king of Persia would
suddenly return safe to his kingdom. She then went again, and found king
Saleh her brother, whom Farasche had caused to come speedily thither, by
a certain fumigation. Brother, said she to him, the king your nephew, and
my dear son, is in the city of enchantments, under the power of queen
Labe. Both you and I must see what we can do to deliver him, for there is
no time to be lost.
King Saleh forthwith assembled a puissant body of sea-troops, and even
called to his assistance the genies his allies, who appeared with a much
more numerous army. As soon as the two armies were joined, he put himself
at the head of them, together with queen Farasche, queen Gulnare, and the
princesses, who would all have their share in this glorious action. They
then lifted themselves up into the air, and soon poured down on the
palace and city of enchantments, where the magic queen, her mother, and
all the other adorers of fire, were destroyed in an instant.